Alfred Hitchcock’s films not only permanently scar the brains of his viewers but also addict them to his suspense. Hitchcock’s films lure you in like a trap, he tells the audience what the characters don’t know and tortures them with the anticipation of what’s going to happen.
Suspense is only one of Hitchcock’s many techniques and themes. His themes range from the obvious violence, to the depths of human interaction and sex. From Rear Window to Psycho, Hitchcock’s unique themes are present and evident. Rear Window starts with something we all do at times, which is nosing in and stalking on others business, and turns it into a mysterious investigation leaving the viewer second guessing their neighbors at home. Psycho on the other hand, drags
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Sex is evident in the very first scene of Psycho, when Marion Crane and Sam Loomis are wrapping up an unusual sexual lunch break. Sex only appears in the beginning of the film but the theme draws the audience into the character of Marion Crane and her intentions. The sex comes first and then the violence follows later on in the film. But the theme of sex is primarily used to characterize Marion’s character. Sex during her lunch break is not something that most woman do. On the other hand, Rear Window’s sex theme seems to only be present in L.B. Jefferies relationship with Lisa Carol Fremont as they have numerous kissing scenes and sexual references. But the theme can also be seen in the neighbors. There is clear tension in Lars Thorwald relationship with his wife. Although, it is unclear, it takes place in the bedroom of their apartment. The violence soon follows the tension and L.B. Jefferies gets …show more content…
He uses the point of view shot a lot in Rear Window, most of the film we are looking from the perspective of L.B. Jefferies view outside of his window. Everything he sees, the audience sees through his view. This seems to really create an honest relationship with the audience and the character. For example, when L.B. Jefferies sees Lars Thorwald putting his knives away. We see everything that L.B. Jefferies sees and essentially feel the same way that he does. When Hitchcock adds in a shot following the POV of L.B. Jefferies reaction to what he saw Lars Thorwald just do, that is Hitchcock using the Kuleshov effect. Used in almost every Hitchcock film, the audience gets a sense of reality and the reaction to that reality from the character. In Hitchcock’s The Birds for example, the Kuleshov effect is used extremely. In the scene where the man gets knocked down by the bird at the gas station and gas spills down the roadway. We see this through alternating shots of POV from Melanie Daniels view and her facial expression as the gas trail leads to man who is about to light a cigarette. We see the fear and drastic change in emotion in the close up shots showing her reaction to what she saw. In the end, the audience feels psychologically involved and connected with the
Rear Window directed by Alfred Hitchcock was an exceptional movie with a jaw- dropping 8.6 rating on IMDb’s website. The movie is about L. B. Jefferies (protagonist), who is a well-known photographer in a wheelchair.The lack of entertainment and extreme boredom caused Jeff (Jefferies) to stare out the rear window day and night. He eyed his neighbors through this window 24/7 and revolved his wheelchair season around their personal lives. As the movie goes on Jeff feels as if Lars Thorwald (antagonist) has murdered his sick wife. He knew they were an unhappy married couple already and had some unmistakable clues. In this series of events Jeff’s girlfriend who he thought to be too perfect for him and epicene turns out be a risk-taker and brave.
In conclusion in “Rear Window” Hitchcock is shown off as an auteur and realist though his modification and implementation of his own creative mind and as a realist by conveying reality and occurrences of everyday life respectively. He also used methods such as eye line matching, cinema as window and frame, and potentially character specific lighting to connect the audience with the characters and to give the main characters more individualized
In the film Rear Window directed by Alfred Hitchcock, a significant shift of power is portrayed. This shift occurs between the protagonist of the film, L.B Jeffries and his romantic partner, Lisa Freemont. This shift also aids in outlining the main theme of the film, which is marriage, as all aspects of marriage are observed and taken into account by Jeffries. The change of dominance within Lisa and Jeffries relationship can be broken down into three stages, which develop and change throughout the film. At the beginning of the film Jeffries is shown to have the power within the relationship as he dictates the parameters of the relationship, however he is also intimidated by Lisa 's social standing. Towards the middle of the film the possession
An inner courtyard becomes a large stage that serves the director to show a portrait of human relationships. Angles and perspectives put the audience in a place where it is not normally found. Hitchcock with his camera can get in someone's personal life and invade their privacy. With Rear Window it makes the public more aware of itself as an observer. This displaces and transforms the public into a player into the action since across his look, the observer assumes the responsibility of the characters and believes an experience different from any other film of their
Stam, Robert & Pearson, Robertson., ‘Hitchcock’s Rear Window: Refluxivity and the Critique of Voyeurism’ in Deutelbaum, Marshall & Poague, Leland A. ed., A Hitchcock Reader (John Wiley & Sons: 2009).
Perhaps no other film changed so drastically Hollywood's perception of the horror film as did PSYCHO. More surprising is the fact that this still unnerving horror classic was directed by Alfred Hitchcock, a filmmaker who never relied upon shock values until this film. Here Hitchcock indulged in nudity, bloodbaths, necrophilia, transvestism, schizophrenia, and a host of other taboos and got away with it, simply because he was Hitchcock.
This left Hitchcock films as some of her mother’s favorites. Pemberton, went to a Hitchcock festival as an adult, this time watching Rear Window, which she had not seen since she was a child with an objective examination, she found a scene that would shift both her and her mother’s perspective of this movie. As Jimmy Stewart’s character, Jefferies, realizes he is in danger, telephones his friend Wendell Corey, who was not at home, but he spoke with the baby-sitter who did not appear on screen, but was portrayed in a voice that would convey imagery of a “familiar black image.” Asking the inspiration for this essay “Do he have your number, Mr.
Both Poe and Hitchcock manipulate the audience to feel suspense using mood. Poe uses mood when talking about his wife before he kills her in "Black Cat." Poe uses very vulgar vocabulary to create a sense of suspense to the reader in his short story. "Goaded by the interference into a rage more than demoniacal, I withdrew my arm from her grasp and buried the axe in her brain" (Poe 11). Poe uses vulgar language and strong diction to create a suspense for the reader because the reader didn't know what was going to happen in the very beginning of the quote. Only later in the quote does the reader find out he killed his wife. In Hitchcock's movies, the audience interprets mood in a different way. Hitchcock uses lighting to create mood in his movies. For example, in Rear Window the lighting goes completely dark in Jeffries' apartment, and the only lighting the
Rear Window tells so much of the story visually, using the camera as a narrative. Through a long crane shot, the camera movement introduces us to the neighborhood and the people who live there. Eventually, a man sleeping in the apartment from which we were looking, is shown with sweat covering his forehead, causing the viewer to assume it is hot. The camera then moves to the wall to show a thermometer that reads 92 degrees, proving this assumption correct. To go along with camera movement, Rear Window, strongly demonstrates the Kuleshov theory. This theory created by a Russian film theorist discusses how editing can affect a persons perception. The theorist noted that you could take a shot of an actor’s blank face and intercut it with an object, therefore changing what the audience believes to be the emotion the actor is expressing. Throughout this film Hitchcock shows us wh...
Alfred Hitchcock developed his signature style from his earlier works The Lodger and Blackmail. These films were the framework for his signature films later on. His themes of “an innocent man who is accused of a crime” and “the guilty woman” were first seen in these two films and are repeated throughout Hitchcock’s cinematic history
Though complex and brilliantly written for its time, the plot of Alfred Hitchcock’s film, Vertigo, is only half of the genius behind it. Alfred Hitchcock’s unique presence as an auteur is truly what sets his films apart. There is symmetry to his shots that give the film an artistic feel, as if each frame were a painting. Many times, within this symmetry, Hitchcock places the characters in the center of the frame; or if not centered, then balanced by whatever else is adding density to the shot. For example, as Madeline sits and looks at the painting in the museum, there is a balance within the frame. To counter-act her position to the right of the painting, Hitchcock puts a chair and another painting on the left side, which is visually pleasing to the eye of the audience. The use of red and green not only adds a visual effect as well, but later serves as a clue that Madeline is not actually dead, when the women who looks like her is wearing a green dress.
The film, 'Rear Window' has an essence of 'urban isolation/ loneliness' in it. The entire film is made on one confined set. In the whole movie, the viewers can either see the apartment of the immobile protagonist, Jeff or the window views of his neighbors. With the idea of confined set, Hitchcock (director) showed the loneliness and urban isolation of Jeff. Due to his leg injury, Jeff can not go anywhere so he passes his time by peeping into his neighbors' life through his rear window and can see different stories going on in different apartments. Each apartment window is like a TV series for him, which he watches on a daily basis. This film shows the visual study of obsessive human curiosity.
In the film Rear Window that was released in 1954 Alfred Hitchcock the director uses suspense through out the film to create a mystery. Hitchcock uses several techniques like symbolism, narratives, and voyeurism. Hitchcock main focus in the film was to create the entire film from a one-point vantage spot. The film depicts a vision in the audience head that is produced by visuals. How do gender roles. Having the film shown by the eyes of the protagonist Jefferies eyes the audience have a connection to the film and have one specific vocal point to focus through out the film.
Hitchcock employs plenty of unique visuals, including camera tricks that confuse depth perception, invasive close-ups, film noir lighting, and rapid cuts to show nudity with out showing nudity or extreme violence / killing without much blood. The movie “Psycho” was a first for several filmic elements making it sometimes more notable than effective. At its heart, however it’s a extreme thrilling murder/ mystery that boasts a climax unlike any other before its time. The suspense and anticipation are almost unbearable, keeping the ultimate, answers brilliantly stowed until the very
The two films Psycho and The Birds, both directed by Alfred Hitchcock, share similar themes and elements. These recurring themes and elements are often prevalent in many of Hitchcock’s works. In Psycho and The Birds, Hitchcock uses thematic elements like the ideal blonde woman, “the motherly figure”, birds, and unusual factors that often leave the viewer thinking. Hitchcock’s works consist of melodramatic films, while also using pure cinema to help convey messages throughout the film.